As conference tourneys clog courts, NJIT sits on bench
NEWARK, N.J. — Here, the New Jersey Institute of Technology houses a men's basketball team without a home.
It's the only Division I men's basketball team without a home, actually. NJIT is the sport's lone Independent, and has been since the dissolution of the only conference it had ever been a member, the Great West.
"I don't think people quite understand what that means, from putting the schedule together to motivating your guys and keeping them focused," head coach Jim Engles said.
"We will be the last independent. Once we get into a conference, we're going to be the answer to some Trivial Pursuit question."
Days here, particularly this time of year, are a little bit odd. Understandably so. Games come few and far between — the Highlanders close out their regular season against Howard on Wednesday night — because it's quite difficult to find teams willing and able to play non-conference games during their own league play. NJIT has had to seek out games against non-Division I opponents, just to have some semblance of a normal schedule.
NJIT's season might all be over on Wednesday, or, better yet, it might not be. The Highlanders are optimistic they'll be invited to their first postseason tournament, which would cap off a season in which they've gone 17-11, with wins against Michigan, Duquesne and Yale. They believe they're likely to receive a bit to the CIT.
The Highlanders also pray they'll be invited to join a conference someday — ideally, someday soon. Last month, they announced they'll break ground on a $100 million multipurpose athletic facility, which will include an arena that can seat 3,500 for basketball. NJIT athletic director Lenny Kaplan hopes the facility is the key to his athletic department's future.
"I'm hopeful somebody wakes up and says, you know what? They're a good academic school in a good geographic region — how could it hurt to take these guys?" Kaplan says. "I don't know why people would think we'd be a detriment to their conference. If we're not a detriment, I think we'd be an additive. If we're an additive, why wouldn't you take us?"
***
Seven years ago, as a fledgling Division I program, NJIT became the first team in Division I men's basketball to go 0-29. By the middle of the following season — Engles' first here — the program's losing streak had stretched to 51 consecutive games. The Highlanders were getting all sorts of publicity, but not the good kind.
"I didn't walk into the office every day going, 'We've lost this many games in a row,' but my players did," Engles said. "They were walking around campus and it was almost like you didn't want to put your stuff on because kids would make fun of you. When you're at student-athlete, that's your identity."
Against Bryant on Jan. 21, 2009, NJIT finally snapped the streak. Engles remembers entering the locker room with a 16-point halftime lead thinking, worrying, questioning, How are we going to screw this up?
"I was nervous as hell," he said. "When we won the game, it was like what a national championship locker room looks like. Hugging, crying, just such joy. I was happy it was done with. … The amount of pressure that was taken off those kids was amazing."
In the years that followed, the Highlanders continued to climb. They won 10 games during the 2009-10 season, their first as members of the Great West (which was formed at first, essentially, as a scheduling alliance, but it also gave the Highlanders a sense of camaraderie and a conference tournament to work toward). In 2012-13, NJIT won the Great West regular-season title, completing its near-miraculous turnaround, before being upset in the league tournament, which cost it a postseason bid.
In July 2013, the Great West disbanded after four of the other five full-time members left for the Western Athletic Conference. NJIT was left all alone.
Because the NCAA requires Division II programs moving up to Division I to have lined up a conference affiliation, NJIT will have no future company. In all likelihood, it will be Division I's last independent.
Back in 2013, Kaplan hoped he could join another conference — ideally, one with schools of similar profiles to his academically rigorous institution, or at least ones that made sense geographically — but no one bit. Kaplan says he was told NJIT's outdated facilities were the main reason for its exclusion. For some leagues, too, commissioners and school presidents liked their current sizes and were in no mood to expand.
"I understand what these people are looking for," Kaplan said. "We're trying hard to do everything we can. We've become more competitive. The No. 1 reason I was always told, the first reason we were always told was facility. Facility. Facility. Facility. I get it. I completely understood that. But we've taken care of that.
"Now you can't say it's the facility because that's going to happen. The design will be completed by September, and we'll be shoveling ground in November. We'll move in fall of '17. That's the plan. … Our (current) facility was built in 1967. High schools in the area have better facilities. We definitely needed to do it."
***
NJIT became more of a household name by beating Michigan in Ann Arbor on Dec. 6. The Highlanders trended on Twitter. Tens of thousands of people googled the school's name to learn more about both the program and the university. Fans of Michigan's biggest rivals scurried to buy NJIT apparel to heckle the Wolverines.
Highlander players have been stopped on campus and throughout the state to be congratulated for the big win. The players realized quickly how meaningful that game had been, and could be, for their program.
"It was a pivotal point, and it is right now," junior Winfield Willis says. "We believe we deserve to be in a conference. We're going to try to continue to make pivotal points and keep progressing on this trajectory."
Says sophomore Damon Lynn: "We want to be the team that helped the program go on to bigger and better things."
Right now, the players say they're treating every game as if it were their postseason, trying to win every game they play. It's strange, regardless of their approach, with everyone else's conference tournaments taking place this week and next week.
Because Engles believes a postseason bid could be likely for his Highlanders, he is trying to figure out the best way to keep his players fresh during what would be a lengthy break between Wednesday's game and the start of a tournament. He's reached out to a friend and former head college football coach for tips on how football coaches handle the long layoff before bowl games.
The likely landing spot for NJIT is the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
"We've had communication with them; we think it's a really neat story," says Jamie Kachmarik, the chairman of the CIT selection committee.
"From a program that didn't win a game seven years ago to where they are now, Coach Engles has really changed that whole program and built it. It's something we have very high interest in. … Just being selected would help build their resume with them trying to get into a league. Hopefully, we can offer them a bid and they can accept it. Hopefully, we can bring even more to their story, a couple of wins in the postseason.
"You just want to provide opportunities for these kids and these coaches to build on their program."
Anything helps; the Highlanders appreciate everything. They know, due to their raised profile and lack of conference affiliation, anything beyond this season will be difficult — particularly from a scheduling standpoint. Engles normally likes to play four guarantee games each season. So far, he's only been contacted by one program offering to set one up for next season.
"The thing that I've become very aware of as the season is ending is you have to play well because you need to win, recruit and keep your kids happy — but if you win too much now from an independent standpoint, nobody wants to play you," Engles said. "The Michigan win solidified that. There's no benefit for them. I get it.
"Before, it was like, 'Why are you playing NJIT? They suck.' Now, it's like, "Why are you playing NJIT? They might beat you.' That's what literally happened overnight."
***
NJIT sponsors 19 varsity programs, including men's lacrosse in its inaugural season. Some sports are associate members of other leagues; for example, men's soccer competes in the Sun Belt. Kaplan's hope is that he can find a conference willing to house most of his sports, with both men's and women's basketball as his primary focus. "At the end of the day, no one's taking basketball as an associate member," he says, "so I really have to figure that one out."
But conference affiliation is not just tied to one program or one sport, even if it is the most high-profile one.
Kaplan believes his school fits the geographic footprint of seven different conferences, from America East to the Colonial Athletic Association and everything in between, and he says he's in constant discussions with various leaders. Some leagues seem quite content with their existing membership.
"At this point in time the NEC is very happy with the current composition of our 10-member alignment and as such we are not in active discussions to solicit new members," NEC commissioner Noreen Morris said in a statement.
Dennis Thomas, the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, applauds NJIT's commitment to its new facility and said he understands the importance of conference affiliation for a school like NJIT
"I commend their President and Lenny for getting the arena done," Thomas said. "That, I thought, was an excellent move. That's one of the pieces to the puzzle for conference consideration."
Thomas says he has had what he characterized as "preliminary discussions" with NJIT officials, and that he also hopes to add one member to round out his conference at 14 schools. "The plan is to add another member," Thomas said, adding that there is no specific deadline for that decision. "Who that will be, we don't know at this point."
Count Engles' peers in the coaching fraternity among those rooting for NJIT to find a new and permanent home.
"It's so unfair — it's just unfair," said Boston University coach Joe Jones, a close friend and former boss of Engles' at Columbia. "It's unfair to his players even more so than Jimmy. He wants to provide his guys with the best possible experience they can have, on and off the court.
"When you talk about being the only independent school in Division I, you're not really doing that. You're not giving them all you can provide for them. I think that's what motivates Jimmy, the experience for his guys. Look at his schedule and the games he has to play. It's just unfair. I would hope that someone somewhere would recognize that and offer some help in getting them into a conference that makes sense for NJIT
"They've proven they can put a good product on the floor. They have the initiative that went into the new building. It's a terrific academic institution. He's a quality coach and a quality person. Someone needs to understand, 'Hey, we need to make room for these guys.' "
